Asadal: Singing Actors, Acting Singers

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Singing Actors, Acting Singers

As we all know, poor me is on the drama/movie shortage for the next 2 years. Iggi is slowly coming to me, so tomorrow I will probably pass out, but I can count on no more than 2 movies per year from that ungrateful JJY, so I started to watch musicals. Korean ones, to be exact. And... damn I love it.

And while watching one version of Jekyll & Hyde, I started to have some strange creeps. I was watching and I realised that I know the actor singing so fabulously. Jo Seungwu. I was in complete shock, He sang great in 70 70 Go!, but it was the movie, so, you know, studio recording can make everything. I can even sound like Aretha Franklin (maybe not, ok), but this was some live performance. I knew he was a nice actor (Jina-sshi, kamsahamnida^^), but somehow his singing abilities didn't strike me that much in this musical movie. The stage is different. The stage shows everything. If an actor is weak - it will strip him of any delusions (sure, some can just make it up by different aspects), if an actor is good - everything will just stop, and there will be only him/her on the stage and you. Not a person from the audience. You.

I'm far from my point of this post. Actors in Korea sing. Better or less good (ah, I am so euphemistic, back to my normal self - they suck!), but they can sing, or at least hold a note. I was slightly biased towards singing during FM (fanmeetings), but KNG changed my mind. He doesn't have any spectacular voice in singing, he sings higher than his speaking voice, but clearly and not "airy", I hate airy voices. Plus, he doesn't make an idiot out of himself when he sings on the stage. Yes, I watched what I could, even from 2006, when he had his hand in the bandage. So... OK, without any inappropriate adjectives.

Godss, I lost my point again, damn you, Namgil-nim!

My point is - when you sing, sing well. I don't buy an excuse about the fatigue, I don't buy any excuse about "not being the singer". What a cosmic bullsh*t. If you record an album, or a single not as a part of the OST, you are moving toward singer-zone. Sorry. So do it well.

Omo, I am bashing Keunsuk again. Yes, yes I am. Because watching all those actors on the stage, and later, their performances on the stage not as the part of the musical, but just a song in some show (ah, Yoon Dohyun's Love Letter was such a great show, not only because Dohyun-sshi has a fabulous voice himself, but all those performances. He himself also starred in a musical called Hedwig and the Angry Inch), made me realize that he's in fact an idol, not even a singer. He has a great voice, but he can't do nothing much with that voice - live. If the song is not his, he fails, he can't hit the notes right.

The thing is, JKS said he's not a singer. That would be great, and I would understand the less great performances on the stage, but... He's not an actor either. I mean, no he starred in few movies and dramas, but be frank, they are not masterpieces. Beethoven Virus is maybe the best, but because of Kim Myungmin. And for that drama JKS sang his the only good song. But what he has been doing lately? Fanmeetings that consist of... singing? Hell, he's been singing for the entire year. I'm fed up with his vanity, with his conceitedness and with his "oh, it's just a joke" attitude. So a note to all: forget it.

Some singers appear in dramas/movies - see my post on Dead Carp and The Table^^. They may have tons of charm and charisma, but forgive me, I had to take off my glasses and I didn't see it. I'm blind as a bat without them, and I wouldn't even notice Namgil-nim or Jaeyoung-nim on the street. Unless of course I did bump upon them and cause a multiple fractures. Then, maybe... Maybe I'm biased, yes, I'm biased, but I see no singer that is a great actor. It works the other way round - actors sometimes are great singers.

Proof: Jo Seungwu. Damn, I was taken aback.

First: his live musical, and he's the Jekyll/Hyde, song - This is the moment: